Problem: When IKON Office Solutions decided to transform its seven-year-old digital information service for law firms from a client/server application to a full-fledged e-business solution, one of its primary concerns was security. The new Virtual File Room service would be making sensitive legal files accessible via Web browser for seamless collaboration by multiple attorneys working on a case. Fortifying the system against unauthorized entry would be essential to preserve confidentiality.
The $5 billion publicly traded corporation summoned IBM to erect the electronic equivalent of Fort Knox around the files that law firms would be submitting for safekeeping.
IBM created a virtual fortress resting on the foundation of Tivoli SecureWay FirstSecure, a centrally managed security solution with integrated components ranging from IBM's Firewall to RSA Data Security Inc.'s SecureID authentication system. Extra layers of defense were put into place as well, including an architecture that segregates documents pertaining to each lawsuit in a discrete disk drive.
With the security issue addressed, IKON also sought IBM's advice in selecting a database platform that could scale up from Windows NT to UNIX when needed, data servers that could accommodate exceptional volume, and Web hosting services capable of fulfilling the firm's mission-critical needs. IBM's DB2 Universal Database, Netfinity 7000 servers and Fortune 500-caliber hosting facility in Raleigh, N.C., filled the bill.
Result: an e-business solution supplied by IBM, enabling IKON to go to market in early 2000 with a ground-breaking litigation support service engineered to earn the confidence of law firms understandably concerned about data integrity.
"It carries a lot of weight when we say that IBM is providing the security for our Virtual File Room solution," said Steven Harber, brand manager for IKON's Business Imaging Services. "Our clients want the assurance that their documents are going to be safe, and IBM's involvement convinces them that we have taken every possible precaution to create the most secure environment available in e-business today."
Other company product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. SET Secure Electronic Transaction, Secure Electronic Transaction, SET and the SET Secure Electronic Transaction design mark are trademarks and service marks owned by SET Secure Electronic Transaction LLC.
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